This afternoon in the Bear Creek Greenbelt:

Great Horned Owlet

Mama Great Horned Owl preening

Papa Great Horned Owl snoozing

This afternoon it was cool and windy in the Bear Creek Greenbelt, yet the trees are beginning to leaf out.  Here’s Mama Great Horned Owl keeping an eye on the nest:

Great Horned Owl

Scratching an itch:

Great Horned Owl

Feathers on the back of Mama Great Horned Owl’s head:

Two of the three owlets:

Great Horned Owlets

This morning a House Wren visited my back yard . . . at least a couple of weeks earlier in the spring than in past years, and one of the first reported in Jefferson County this year.

Here it is calling:

This morning at Rocky Mountain Arsenal:

American Avocets

Bald Eagle

Bison taking a dust bath

At an urban park:

Eastern Screech Owl

In the mid-afternoon in the Bear Creek Greenbelt, all the owls looked hot and cranky:

Great Horned Owls

All three owlets in the Bear Creek Greenbelt:

Great Horned Owlets

Another view:

Great Horned Owlets

Mama Great Horned Owl was across Bear Creek, preening:

Great Horned Owl

A dapper Song Sparrow:

Song Sparrow

In the Bear Creek Greenbelt, the Great Horned Owl nest is crowded these days, especially when one of the owlets stretches its wings:

Great Horned Owlet

Mama Great Horned Owl remains off the nest most of the time.  She does some wing-stretching herself.

Great Horned Owl (female)

Motherhood is tiring:

Great Horned Owl (female)

And messy, requiring clean-up:

Great Horned Owl (female)

Great Horned Owl (female)

At lunchtime on a bike ride I ran across a Golden Eagle, perched above a prairie dog town, in the Bear Creek Greenbelt.

Golden Eagle

After work I returned to the greenbelt.

Great Horned Owlet

Mama Great Horned Owl was off the nest, perched in a tree across Bear Creek.  Here she is stretching, and perched:

Great Horned Owl (female)

The Cinnamon Teal were still in Bear Creek.

Cinnamon Teal (male)

Cinnamon Teal (male)

Cinnamon Teal (female)

And here’s a Mallard drake with a bum wing:

Mallard

In the Smaller Bird Department:

White-breasted Nuthatch

Two of the Great Horned Owlets in the Bear Creek Greenbelt:

Great Horned Owlets

Mama Great Horned Owl is off the nest more often these days.  But she is watchful.

Feeding time:

Great Horned Owl feeding owlet

A pair of Cinnamon Teal in Bear Creek:

Cinnamon Teal

The day started very windy, but the Great Horned Owl nest in the Bear Creek Greenbelt was still intact, with all three owlets.  Here’s one:

Great Horned Owlet

Mama Great Horned Owl was off the nest, preening.

Female Great Horned Owl preening in the wind

Great Horned Owl preening

Great Horned Owl scratching an itch

Eventually she flew back to the nest with dinner.

Great Horned Owl with vole

Great Horned Owl with vole

Papa Great Horned Owl was nearby, unflappable:

Great Horned Owl (male)

Owls are not the only predators in the Bear Creek Greenbelt:

Cooper’s Hawk

Today there’s a high wind warning and a red flag warning, the latter indicating critical fire weather conditions.  Though it’s sunny, temps are in the mid 40s and the winds are blowing 40-50 mph, with gusts much higher.

Here’s how Papa Great Horned Owl is coping in the Bear Creek Greenbelt this afternoon:

Great Horned Owl (male)

Meanwhile, across the creek Mama Great Horned Owl was hunkered down in the nest with the owlets:

Great Horned Owl nest

Another view:

Owlet snuggled up against Mama Great Horned Owl

Even the waterfowl felt the wind!

Wood Duck, channeling the windblown guy in the old Maxell commercial